Diaphanitas

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Vivite et Vivito

The phrase "innocue vivite: numen adest" comes from the Ars Amatoria (i.e. the Art of Love) a poem in three books written by the Romen poet Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD). Apparently, the poem was about how to find a guy/girl and how to hold onto him/her (sounds kind of like The Rules huh?).

Anyway, the phrase loosely translate to "live harmlessly: the spirit is at hand." The Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), the guy who invented the system of binomial nomenclature, had it enscribed on the lintel over the bedroom doorway in his summer home (Hammarby) outside of Uppsala. The quote was actually mistakenly written as "innocue vivito."

It's quoted incorrectly, but it's still meaningful Latin.

Innocue vivite: numen adest -- live harmlessly: the spirit is at hand [said to more than one person]

Innocue vivito: numen adest -- live harmlessly: the spirit is at hand [said with emphasis to one person]